One of the trendy questions asked of female celebrities arriving at awards ceremonies is “Who are you wearing?” This is a fancy way of asking, “Who fashioned your gown?” It’s kind of an ego deflator, considering the questioner seems more…
Food manufacturers analyze their products before releasing them to the public, identifying any impurities that don’t belong. That’s what the end of the world will be like—except with us it’s our purities that will get all the attention. God will…
Advent already? We shouldn’t be surprised. The retailers have been reminding us that Xmas is coming since Halloween. But the season of Advent asks if we’re ready for Christ. That’s what this Sunday’s readings remind us. They do that by…
The ISIS terrorists are determined to ride the pale horse of the apocalypse to its finish line—and to trample as many “infidels” as they can along the way. They intend to cross that line as victors, delivering eternal death without…
“Captain gets 36 years for deserting ship.” That headline in this week’s news stream defined the life of one man in a single snapshot. Snapshots are how human beings judge each other. This captain of a South Korean ferry was…
If you’ve ever channel surfed in the afternoon, chances are you found an episode of Judge Judy. Chances are also good that the case you landed on involved a landlord vs. a tenant from hell. These cases usually have a…
Something bittersweet happens amidst the blood and guts that fill the nightly local news reports about murder and accident victims. Eulogies. These are stories of ordinary people who never made headlines before, but in their sudden exit from this life…
Many 4- and 5-year-old girls were captivated by the movie “Frozen.” It’s the story of a girl whose newly discovered power to create ice and snow nearly kills her little sister, causing the big sister to isolate herself from the…
Only two years ago, U.S. customs and border officials seized counterfeit goods worth around $1.26 billion. By 2016 counterfeiting is expected to be a $1.7 trillion industry. Human beings have thrived on phoniness since Adam and Eve donned fig leaves…
This Sunday’s gospel made me think of Homer Simpson. Picture this paunchy, self-satisfied ignoramus sitting in his man cave watching football, and his wife comes in and says “Ned Flanders invited us over for a get together with some friends…